REAL WORLD: NAVY, AF TO FREEZE CIVILIAN HIRING — The services are cutting costs in accordance with Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s orders last week to slash spending, according to internal memos obtained by Morning D. The cost-cutting measures are part of the military’s efforts to prepare for the possibility of sequestration and a yearlong continuing resolution — and service leaders are not being shy about making clear exactly what will happen if Congress doesn’t do its job.

For the Navy, which would face a $4 billion shortfall in its operations and maintenance accounts if Congress fails to pass a FY13 budget, cost-cutting measures include reduced travel (i.e. few, if any, conferences), delayed ship decommissionings, slimmed-down IT and administrative budgets, deferred maintenance and the termination of many temporary employees. “Given the great uncertainty we face, we must enact prudent, but stringent belt-tightening measures now that will permit us to operate the Navy and Marine Corps through the rest of this fiscal year if the CR is extended,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in his memo. Read it here, for Pros: http://politico.pro/WU6mM7

For the Air Force, cost-cutting measures include many of the same cuts as the Navy, along with canceling conferences and symposia, curtailing air shows and flyovers and halting “minor purchases,” such as furniture and some unit equipment. And if there’s no sequestration fix by March, the Air Force’s civilian workforce will face unpaid furloughs. On top of that, flying hours will be reduced by as much as 18 percent, “driving nearly all flying units to unacceptable readiness levels by the end of FY13,” Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh said in their memo. Read it here, also for Pros: http://politico.pro/RRkwkq

HAPPY MONDAY AND WELCOME TO MORNING DEFENSE, where the online prediction market Intrade tells us there’s a 90 percent chance Chuck Hagel will be confirmed as SecDef. “Zero Dark Thirty,” meanwhile, has just a 2.5 percent chance of winning the Oscar for Best Picture. Send your predictions, along with tips and feedback, to awright@politico.com, and follow us on Twitter @ morningdefense, @ abwrig and @ POLITICOPro.

MD SCOOP: BOOZ ALLEN’S EXECUTIVE VP TO RETIRE — Jimmy Henry, executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, has alerted the company he plans to retire on April 1, according to an SEC filing on Friday. Henry, who’s been with the company since 1977, has done extensive consulting work for federal agencies and the military and now leads the company’s civil business unit. Here’s his official bio: http://bit.ly/VXiNbu

FIRST LOOK: HAMID KARZAI SAYS U.S. WILL NEED TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN PAST 2014 — In an interview set to air later today on “CNN International’s Amanpour,” the Afghan president says the United States will “need to have a limited number of forces in Afghanistan” after 2014 to run certain facilities there. Karzai also tells CNN’s Christiane Amanpour he can say with “relatively good confidence” his government will agree to offer U.S. troops legal immunity after 2014 — a top White House demand.

— IN THE INTERVIEW, KARZAI ALSO LAYS OUT HIS MILITARY ‘WISH LIST,’ saying his biggest need is for the United States to “train us well, educate the [Afghan] forces well, equip them properly.” He then adds: “When we say train us and equip us well, we mean we need an air force. … We need, you know, armored ... vehicles and tanks and all that.”

SIREN: U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT ENTERED SOMALIA AIRSPACE — The United States provided “limited technical support” during an unsuccessful French rescue mission on Friday, President Barack Obama notified Congress yesterday. “United States combat aircraft briefly entered Somali airspace to support the rescue operation, if needed,” the president said. “These aircraft did not employ weapons during the operation.” Read the letter here: http://1.usa.gov/VV1NVK

-- THE BOTCHED RESCUE MISSION: ‘FRENCH COMMANDO KILLED IN SOMALIA HOSTAGE RAID,' by the AP’s Jamey Keaten and Abdi Guled, reporting from Mogadishu — “A raid to free a French intelligence agent held captive in Somalia for three years went horribly wrong, leaving 17 Islamists and at least one French commando dead in a mud-caked farming town deep in militant territory. In the chaotic aftermath of the firefight, the hostage’s fate was unclear Saturday. The Islamists denied French claims that he was killed and said they had a new prisoner — a wounded French soldier.” http://bit.ly/UXCDnA

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TOP STORY: ‘FRENCH STRIKES IN MALI SUPPLANT CAUTION OF U.S.,' by NYT’s Adam Nossiter, Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, reporting from Mali — “French fighter jets struck deep inside Islamist strongholds in northern Mali on Sunday, shoving aside months of international hesitation about storming the region after every other effort by the United States and its allies to thwart the extremists had failed. … First, they blunted an Islamist advance, saying the rest of Mali would have fallen into the hands of militants within days. Then on Sunday, French warplanes went on the offensive, going after training camps, depots and other militant positions far inside Islamist-held territory in an effort to uproot the militants, who have formed one of the largest havens for jihadists in the world.” http://nyti.ms/10t2ZUJ

ON THE HOMEFRONT: THE HOUSE RETURNS TO WASHINGTON — House members are back on Capitol Hill today, set to take up the Republican version of the Sandy relief bill (the one they got slammed for putting off until now). The Senate, meanwhile, returns next week.

— AND TOMORROW, the House Armed Services Committee will convene for the first time in the 113th Congress for an “organization meeting” at 11:30 a.m. in Rayburn 2118. The main item on the agenda? Ratify the committee’s rules.

WHAT PROS ARE READING:

— OUTLOOK BLEAK FOR MILITARY PAY PANEL — Via Pro’s Leigh Munsil, “This year’s defense bill created a new commission that will be tasked with studying controversial reforms to military pay and benefits, but defense insiders are already dismissing the effort before it has even begun.” http://politico.pro/UjaiIk

— SEQUESTER PRECAUTIONS COULD HIT SHIPYARDS HARDEST — Via Pro’s Kate Brannen, “The Pentagon’s order to defer some of this year’s ship and aircraft maintenance might free up money in the short term, but that decision could wind up taking an even bigger bite out of its budget down the road — and defense contractors are worried about what all this means for them.” http://politico.pro/UY0bc7

TRIVIA TIME — On this day in 1784, the Continental Congress ratified a treaty that brought an end to the American Revolutionary War. What was the treaty called? Bonus: Under the terms of the treaty, both the United States and Britain assumed they had the right to access which U.S. river? For the answers, read on.

BULLETIN: CHUCK SCHUMER TO MEET WITH CHUCK HAGEL — The two Chucks are set to meet one-on-one ahead of Hagel’s SecDef nomination proceedings, reports POLITICO’s Manu Raju. “If Hagel can begin to alleviate the concerns raised by Schumer, a hawkish Jewish Democratic leader, it would ease the path for his confirmation by the Senate,” Raju writes. http://politi.co/13tzwIZ

FROM THE SUNDAY SHOWS —

— COLIN POWELL BACKS CHUCK HAGEL — The former secretary of State said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Hagel is “very supportive of the state of Israel” and defended him as the president’s pick for SecDef. “When they go over the edge and say because Chuck said ‘Jewish lobby’ he’s anti-Semitic, that’s disgraceful,” Powell said. “We shouldn’t have that kind of language in our dialog.” http://politi.co/11sWMYe

— STANLEY McCHRYSTAL: ‘NO PROBLEM’ WITH HAGEL — The former top commander in Afghanistan said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” he’s only met Hagel once. “I certainly have no problem with him,” McChrystal said. “He certainly has a great record not just as a soldier but as a senator.” http://politi.co/UIPc4u

— RICHARD BLUMENTHAL: HAGEL WILL BE CONFIRMED — The Democratic Connecticut senator said on “Fox News Sunday” that he thinks “Sen. Hagel will be approved,” but that he’s “not comfortable yet” with Hagel’s views on Israel and Iran. “He’s a person of enormous personal distinction,” Blumenthal added. http://politi.co/St3ivg

DESSERT — MAROON 5 GUITARIST ON HAGEL: “I played background music at a campaign event for nominated Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel sometime in the 90’s,” tweeted Maroon 5 lead guitarist James Valentine. “I liked playing those jazz gigs, it’s sometime[s] more fun to play when no one’s really listening.”

That it was a campaign event suggests that Valentine’s gig happened circa 1996. Valentine, born and raised in Lincoln, Neb., did not respond to a question from POLITICO about whether his tweets constituted an endorsement of Hagel’s SecDef nomination.

TRIVIA ANSWER — On this day in 1784, the Continental Congress ratified the Second Treaty of Paris, which brought an end to the American Revolutionary War. Under the terms of the treaty, the United States and Britain both assumed they had the right to access the Mississippi River, according to the History channel. More here: http://bit.ly/fvPjr5

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Authors:

About The Author

Austin Wright is a senior defense reporter based at the Pentagon covering budget, policy and national security issues. He has been with POLITICO since 2011 and was previously a web producer and author of the widely read newsletter Morning Defense.

Before POLITICO, Wright worked for National Defense magazine, interned at The Chronicle of Higher Education and taught sixth-grade English at Kramer Middle School in Washington.

Wright hails from Richmond, Va., and graduated in 2009 from the College of William and Mary, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The Flat Hat. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Leanne, and their dog, Kernel.